The Cascadia Cup

The Cascadia Cup

Welcome to the fiercest football rivalry in North America

The Cascadia Cup was created by supporters of the Vancouver Whitecaps, Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders in 2004, and has grown to become the largest and fiercest soccer rivalry in the United States and Canada. The three teams of the Pacific Northwest compete for this regional trophy each year, cheered on by tens of thousands of supporters including the Timber Army, Southsiders, Emerald City Supporters and Gorilla FC, and has increased in size in scope as the teams have moved up to Major League Soccer, with the last team joining in 2011 and reignited the competition. Cascadia Cup matches often feature massive TIFO displays, including regional pride, and of course a healthy dose of competitive flair.

These rivalries are only set aside when facing off against teams from outside the region, when all members band together to enjoy watching teams like the LA Galaxy, or from Texas or the east coast, get collectively stomped on by the superior soccer skills of the three Cascadian teams.

The Cascadia Cup formally started in 2004 as a supporters cup. The biggest supporters groups for the three clubs are the Emerald City Supporters, the Timbers Army, and the Vancouver Southsiders. Traditionally these supporters groups celebrate with the cup after their team wins it.

The competition began when all three teams were members of the USL 1st division. The Whitecaps won the cup three times in this span, and the Sounders twice. In 2009 and 2010, the competition was contested between the Timbers and the Whitecaps as the Sounders had moved to the MLS. The Timbers won the cup both years. In 2011 all three sides were in the MLS for the first time together. The competition resumed with three sides again, with the Sounders winning the cup in Vancouver.

In 2012, MLS switched from a home and away balanced schedule to an unbalanced schedule in which teams from the same conference play each other three times. Even with the unbalance of home and away matches, the three supporters groups agreed to include all MLS matches in the competition. These three teams have a long history between each other which spans prior to 2004, dating back to 1974 and the NASL.